The Baltimore Catechism teaches us that “God made [us] to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.” For many of us, knowing God and serving God are very simple, straightforward and comes naturally. However, too often we Catholics forget that God also created us to love Him in this world.
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Loving God entails a personal relationship with Him and many of us are reluctant to go that far.
It is very easy for us to envision God as a Divine Judge, sitting on His throne looking down upon us as “inferior beings.” This is an image of God that is stamped into our memories and many of us would associate God with the Greek god Zeus, who sends lightning bolts down upon the earth.
In this version of God, He is very impersonal and distant. It appears that God has no real use for the human race and simply “tolerates” our existence. We are only good if we are obedient slaves, who do His will above all things and act as enforcers of His Ten Commandments. A Soldier of Christ who wishes to be a part of this army would stop at nothing to enforce God’s Divine Law upon the whole earth and is very eager to banish and send everyone who disagrees with God’s Law into the depths of Hell.
For this Soldier, God is a very cold, distant God and is a Commander whom you do not want to get close to, but are perfectly fine serving at a distance and never meeting.
That is not our God.
Our God is eager to be involved in our affairs and wants to be a part of our lives. He showed this most perfectly when He became man and dwelt among us. Even after He ascended into Heaven, He sent down the Holy Spirit to be our constant Advocate and Guide along our journey. Then, God even went so far as to give us the precious gift of the Holy Eucharist, to be present with us in all our churches around the world until the end of time.
God is not a cold Commander who simply orders us to obey His laws, but is the Father of the Prodigal Son, reading and willing to embrace us and desires to be involved in our lives.
So how do we develop a deeper relationship with God? Here are 4 basic keys:
1. Get to Know Him
We should view God just like any other person with whom we want to have a loving relationship. The first step is always to get to know them, their likes, dislikes or hobbies, but also learning about their personal history. It is almost impossible to love someone you do not know. In reference to God, the greatest tool we can use to know Him is to read Sacred Scripture.
Many Christian writers view the Bible as “God’s Love Letter” to us. So we should dig deep into the Bible in order to know God better. I highly recommend either Walking With God: A Journey through the Bible
2. Spend Time with Him
Again, just like any relationship, we can only draw closer to someone if we spend good, quality time with them. In terms of our relationship with God, the easiest way we can spend time with Him is to pray often and always. Praying should never be reduced to one hour a week on Sunday, but should include praying every day. A married couple would be doomed to divorce if they never spoke to each other. So too with our relationship with God.
For Catholics an essential way to increase intimacy with God is to spend time with Him in Eucharistic Adoration. This can either be in an Adoration chapel, or it can simply be in front of a tabernacle. We should strive to make a holy hour in front of the Eucharist at least once a week, if not more. A story from Saint John Vianney’s life exemplifies this perfectly,
Saint John Vianney found a man in the church looking at the tabernacle. The priest asked him what he was doing and the man replied, “I look at him and he looks at me.”
3. Share Everything with Him
When a dating couple draws closer to each other, they get a point where they share everything from their whole life with the other person. This means digging up every nook and cranny in their life, making sure there are no “surprises” when they walk down the isle together. So too with God. We should never fear of sharing everything with Him. In praying to God we should not be afraid of simply talking to Him about all of our cares and worries.
Too often as Catholics we think God is only responsive to formula prayer. We think that only novenas, rosaries and prayers on the backs of holy cards are “valid” and that God will not listen to us if we don’t pray a very specific way. While these ways of praying do help us find the words to pray, they should not be the end goal. When looking at the lives of the saints, especially their diaries or autobiographies, they share every little detail of their lives with God. While God already knows everything about us, He wants us to share it with Him.
4. Trust in Him
The foundation of any relationship is trust. If you do not trust someone, how can you love them? This is probably the hardest part of our relationship with God. In the midst of all the trials and sorrows of life, it is hard to trust in God. Yet, if we want to grow in our love of Him, we must trust Him and His divine plan. We must trust that He does not desire our destruction, but desires our salvation.
Drawing closer to God and loving Him will naturally lead to an ability to serve Him, even through all the heartaches of life. All the saints attest to this reality and it was their love of God that sustained them through the most difficult trials a person can imagine.
In the end, love is what makes a true Soldier of Christ and will strengthen him/her for the many spiritual battles ahead.
Read the Entire Series
- 5 Resources That Will Fortify and Prepare You for Spiritual Battle
- Want to Save the World? Start with Yourself!
- Introducing the Soldier of Christ Handbook: A Practical Guide to Fighting the Good Fight